-until Bill approved, elections held
By Iva Wharton
In an attempt to reach an agreement with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), government has suggested that the Board appoint an agent to address cricket matters in Guyana since it continues to ignore the interim body which had been set up.
Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony government made this disclosure, in response to a query from Stabroek Sport on Guyana’s failure to name a team to contest the 2013 Caribbean Twenty20 tournament. The minister said government had informed the WICB on several occasions that an IMC had been established and that no functioning Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is in place.
“We have suggested to the WICB in the interim [that it should] appoint an agent in Guyana for the purpose of cricket administration and the selection of persons and so forth to go to tournaments,” he said. The ministry is still awaiting a response from WICB president Dr Julian Hunte after he had committed to addressing the issue after a meeting on Saturday.
“So the WICB don’t ask the government to select a team, we have never had any such request and on this occasion it’s the same thing. Because I saw in the newspapers that we are missing the deadline and no request was ever made to the government to select a team and therefore we cannot select a team,” Dr Anthony said.
According to the minister, earlier in the year the IMC had selected teams which had been sent to the WICB and were rejected. “We have a difficulty and the only logical way we can see us resolving this matter is for the WICB to appoint an agent as a temporary measure so that we can deal with these issues,” he said, adding that the WICB was aware that an injunction had been filed against the former GCB executive.
“That’s a very clear position; it’s a position in law. There is an injunction preventing them from performing the duties of the cricket board. They also know that during the year as well a number of the executives of the Guyana Cricket Board would have resigned. I have some of those resignation letters and I had sent some to the West Indies Cricket Board as well. We know that the trustees of the former Guyana Cricket Board would have resigned, those letters would have also been sent to the WIBC. So the WICB clearly knows that most of the members of the former Guyana Cricket Board have resigned, the trustees have resigned and also that there is an injunction that bars the cricket board or the former members from performing the duties of cricket in Guyana,” Anthony further explained.
Regarding former GCB members still making decisions on cricket, Dr Anthony reiterated that an injunction is in place and the law would have to take its course.
Former Secretary of the GCB Anand Sanasie had been up to two days ago answering questions on the preparation and selection of the team to contest the 2013 Caribbean Twenty20 tournament.
However, a media release sent yesterday from the GCB’s email address stated that trials scheduled for the Everest Cricket Club from November 29 to December 1 have been delayed. The matches will now be played from December 1 to 3. Further, a press release from the WICB said it would give the GCB a new date by which it must submit the team.
Constitution omplete
Meanwhile, Dr Anthony said government plans to wrap up its interventions into this matter within three months. “We have completed the constitution and that would have gone through
various levels of consultations. The constitution that we have now reflects the views of all the stakeholders. We did a draft of the legislation and again we have consulted on that legislation. Both of these documents we have sent to the WICB for any comments they might have, we are awaiting those comments”.
According to Anthony, government plans to lay the bill in parliament and have it become law, a position that was made clear to the WICB. “Once that is done under the new legislation and the new constitution we would then have an election at the earliest opportunity….Once that is done I think the mandate and the role that we have given the IMC will come to an end. It is for the new GCB through those elections that will emerge, to move the process forward. So we are very optimistic that between the next two to three months that all these matters can be resolved at our end,” he said.
There are currently nine cases before the court concerning cricket, the minister said, adding that that is what he believes is stalling the process. “We can’t play cricket in the court, that’s not the place for it, we have to resolve these matters and cricket got to continue on the field. But if every time we try to make an advance and somebody is going to go to court and stall the process it is affecting our cricket. That’s the reason we got involved in the first place, because we thought that we can facilitate and bring an end to some of these things, but it is still continuing,” he explained, adding that government does not desire to become involved in such matters.
“We are here to resolve the problems. I know a lot of times people would want to accuse us of controlling cricket but we are not in the business of controlling cricket that’s not our business we are very clear and categorical about this. We want to help. It is a national game, people are fighting, the administration people are fighting and we don’t want that to continue,” Dr Anthony said.
